Jar or bottle closure



Dec. 9, 1947. A. J. HADERT 2,432,236

JAR OR BOTTLE CLOSURE Filed Sept. 28, 1945 IN VEN TOR.

Jz zaert Jiz aderf;

Patented Dec. 9, 1947 STATES PATENT OFFICE 4. Claiins.

l The object of the present invention is taprovide a novel and improved type of sealing means forjarsor bottles but more particularly for bot.-

tles. Itis-a well known fact that there are many beverages sold in bottles, which become flat or stale if left opened and unused for any appreciable length of time. Among these are such beverages as carbonated soft drink's,,beer,, and the like; Many attempts have been: made topro- Vide closures for bottles of this sort intended to be-placed in closed position after thefirst drink orxglass of the beverage is removedfromthe'bottle t -preVent the'liquid-from'becoming flat asidescribed.

The object ofmy invention is to provide animproved type. of stopper for this purpose; sor constructed that it may beoperated by thesame hand which holds the bottle. Thus, it is notxnecessary for a person having the freshly filled glassin: one hand: andthe bottle in the other, toset th'eglass downand use twohands to. place the-stopper or closure upon the bottle. I accomplish thisresult by; providing a closure of such: a' nature thatit may, inv effect, be rol1ed=over the edge of thesneck ofthebottle to the closed positiomor from closed position to open position, by the same hand which holds the bottle. I further provide a: closure of such a nature as to have a multiplicity'of' seats so that the same portion of the closure does'not contact with the bottleneck upon every. occasion of use.

Among theother advantages of the invention is. that when applied to the bottle it remainsi'n place until the contents of the bottle are ex, hausted'; no adjustments have to be made and no clasps or like devices have to be operated. An especially important feature of the invention is that When the closure is in open position the mouth of the bottle is entirely unrestricted and fullflow of the beverage therefrom may be had.

It is well known in the bottling art that many economies can be effected if the public. can be persuaded to use larger containers and fewer of them. Some. brewers have attempted to market beer in quart containers. One of the reasons. that the public has been slow in purchasing these containers is that much beer goes to waste by becoming flat because it cannot be effectively sealed after being opened and thus becomes fiatf before it can be used. The use of the device of the present invention will'encourage the use of'larger containers because of'th'e' convenience with which the above-recited objections are eliminated.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, constituting a part of this application:

Figure lisa side elevation of the invention.

Figure 2' isa, plan view of the structure of Figure=1.

Figurefiisaperspective view of the bottle embracingelement, hereinafter described; employed in the construction illustrated in Figures 1' and 2.

Figureelis asecti'onal view through a spherical closure cap hereinafter described; and

Figure 51s. a planview. of the structure illustratedinFi'gure 4.

I: callthe device of this. invention the hipflop bottleclosure because of'the ease with which a. spherical. stopper or closure 22 may be flipped from the full; line to the dotted line positionof Figure 1 or may be flippedif'rom the dotted line to the full line-position of said figure.

The primary reason for thiseasy action is that the sphericalor circular nature of" the closure permitsit to rolliover the edge of the bottle mouth andlbe drawn. into sealing position by the action of. springs hereinafter described.

the spherical'closure I may use a ball made completely of rubber, artificial rubber, or any othersuitable material of such elasticity as to make. a. fluid-tight joint between itself and the bottle mouth under the action of. the springs. or Imay make the body of. the ball of a hard' material, such. as. wood; hard rubber, any hard plastic or the like, asindicatedin Figure 4 Here I have illustrated the bodyv 5a of the ball as being. of such a. hard. material. and having a channel Eb about its periphery which receives a rubber or other elastic. band: 50. In this case the hard body 5a is provided withheaded studs. 5e adapted to be engaged by. the outer ends of the springs l8; An. advantage. arising from the use of the partly hard, partly softball-is that for a given springst'rengththeball-makes abetter. seal-where the force exertedzcan be concentrated-on the rubber bandlarea insteadcf being dissipated over the whole volume of a whole rubber ball.

In. carrying outthe. invention I provide a saddle I 5 of the shape illustrated-in perspective in Figure 3 is employed. This saddle. comprises a semicircular bandlfihavingprotuberances H which bear. against theside ofthe bottle neck. Wire loop springs lBhaving the large convolutions l9 and'thesmaller. convolutions 19a are pivoted at 211 to thesacldle I5 and at. their outer ends have pivotal. engagement with the studs 2-! of ball closure 221 At its upper forward corners the saddle of'Figure 3 carries inturned lugs 23 which bear against the bottle neck immediately below the top flange thereof. Stop ears 24 carried by the saddle limit the upward throw of the springs I8, and thus prevent the ball from passing over on to the wrong side of the bottle. By providing stops to limit the throw of the ball so that it can never move over to the left side of the bottle, in Fig. 1, a clear pouring zone is maintained at that side of the bottle mouth. The ball is never permitted to come into the path of the poured liquids and the clear zone side of the bottle neck is never contacted by a ball which, otherwise, might have had sticky residues of drinks, thereon. The ball 22 may be moved to and from bottle sealing position with a rolling action which permits of its being manipulated with one hand. No external fastening device other than the springs l8 themselves need be employed in holding this structure in position upon the bottle, the tension of the springs serving the function of holding'the saddle in place in both open and closed positions of the ball.

Many ways will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art for modifying the disclosed structure. However, as far as I am aware, I am the first to provide a closure of this nature embodying a closure element of circular form so that any point in its periphery may constitute a sealing surface with respect to the mouth of the bottle and so that it may be moved from closed to open position with a rolling movement over the edge of the bottle neck. Springs of the type described have a particular utility when mounted so that one end is journalled with respect to the ball while the other end is journalled or pivoted at 2% upon the saddle because springs of this type diifer from ordinary helical springs in that while they are wound in the direction of their pull they are more or less rigid laterally. Therefore when a person, using only one hand, thrusts with the thumb against the ball to close the bottle, the force of the thrust is all expended in useful effort, that is in rolling the ball over the edge of the bottle neck to closed position. If the springs were ordinary helical springs, the thumb thrust, necessarily exerted more from one side than the other, would tend to thrust the ball bodily laterally and out of alignment with the bottle mouth. But with the springs wound to resist lateral displacement while permitting a pull of the ball into the bottle mouth, the thumb thrust is utilized to best advantage. It is this which yields the flipfiop action and makes possible the very easy manipulation of the closure without requiring the operator to set his drink down and use two hands to seal the bottle to prevent the remainder of the contents from going stale.

Therefore, I wish it to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction set forth but that it includes within its purview whatever changes fairly come withi the terms or the spirit of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a closure for a bottle of the type having a neck and an open mouth at the top of said neck, a laterally removable saddle shaped to fit upon the neck of the bottle, a ball constituting a closure for the mouth of the bottle supporting means by which the ball is carried, which constitute a horizontal axis of rotation for said ball, and a pair of springs, one at each side of the saddle, said springs each comprising an inner and an outer end portion, the inner end portions of the springs being pivotally connected to the saddleand the outer end portions of the springs being connected to the supporting means which constitute the axis of rotation of the ball, the said end portions of each spring being connected by a relatively large and a smaller convolution, both convolutions being integral with each other and with the end portions and both convolutions comprising substantially a complete ring and both of said convolutions being wound about axes substantially parallel to the horizontal axis of rotation of the ball.

2. A closure for a bottle as recited in claim 1 in combination with stop means carried by the saddle and lying in the path of said springs in a position to limit the movement of the ball to prevent its overthrow materially beyond seating position.

3. A closure for a bottle as recited in claim 1 wherein the major portion of said ball is of hard material, said ball being provided with a circumferential channel and a band of elastic material in said channel, said band being constructed and arranged to rest upcn and close the open mouth of the bottle when the ball is in closed position.

4. In a closure for a bottle of the type having a neck, an open mouth at the top of the neck and an outstanding flange around the top of said neck, a laterally removable saddle shaped to fit upon the neck of the bottle, a ball constituting a closure for the mouth of the bottle, supporting means by which the ball is carried, which constitute a horizontal axis of rotation for said ball, and a pair of springs, one at each side of the saddle, said springs each comprising an inner and an outer end portion, the inner end portions of the springs being pivotally connected to the saddle and the outer end portions of the springs being connected to the supporting means which constitute the axis of rotation of the ball, the said end portions of each spring being connected by a relatively large and a smaller convolution, both convolutions being integral with each other and with the end portions and both convolutions comprising substantially a complete ring and both of said convolutions being wound about axes substantially parallel to the horizontal axis of rotation of the ball, inwardly extending ears upon the saddle which engage beneath said flange of the bottle, and outwardly projecting stops upon the saddle inthe path of movement of the springs which limit the'throw of the springs and ball in the direction of closing, beyond the closed position of the ball.

ALBERT J. HADERT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 426,826 Libbey Apr. 29, 1890 430,132 Libbey June 17, 1890 821,456 Bogelmann May 22, 1906 851,990 Leach Apr. 30, 1907 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 349,535 France June 2, 1905 816,822 France May 10, 1937 

